Out on the open road....

In a fortunate turn of evens I managed to get the car out for some open top running on the weekend.
I picked up the car Thursday night and took it for a nice run down to Springwood and back, just to stretch it's legs and show Valavien my new toy.

So when I had to go to Pittsworth on Sunday to sing so there was no choice but to take MinX up the range and out on the back roads! MinX is just a pleasure to drive. Everything about the car makes you want to drive it, from the driving position to the great exhaust note as you push your right foot that little bit further down.

We managed to get through almost all of the weekend with the top down, there was just a bit of rain on the way back after we'd got down the range that forced us to put the top back up.

The best trip of the weekend was a cruise out near Picnic Point in Toowoomba at dusk, the weather was cool, the sunset was great... I was just upset I forgot to take my camera with me... oh well there's always next time.

The other open roading on the weekend was back on the bike after a few weeks. It was a great ride out through the city to UQ and back through Graceville to West End before heading home (pretty much the route of last year's big bike ride). The only downer (apart from all the hills, and I hate hills) was getting a Flat on the way home. Not too bad, just a tube ($9), but it was annoying because I was 5k from home without a patch kit, so I had to wake up Ness to come and get me... Luckily I haven't sold the Blue Car yet so I can still get the bike home, once we're down to just MinX it's going to be a long walk!

Grr... Used Car Salesmen

Honestly, it's no wonder Used Car Salesmen have a bad name. After being told that the parts to fix my car were coming yesterday and the car would be ready today I got a call asking for a delay. RACQ found a couple of minor things wrong that I insisted were fixed before I would take the car, so it was back with the dealer being repaired. I'd organised for it to be reinspected to ensure everything was just as the dealer said it would be. Today I got a call saying the parts weren't here and I need rebook the inspection. A total of 30 mins later I got a call saying the car was fixed and I could move the appointment back!

So got the final report, everything checked out ok.

This is where the real fun started. Now I noticed when I bought the car that the rego was out, so I didn't have any problems buying it with expired rego because they would need to fix it before I bought the car. The problem was no one had noticed until I pointed it out today :) So the car isn't registered... Then they proceeded to say that I would need to pay for the rego because it wasn't part of the purchase price... I pointed out they couldn't sell me a non registered car.

So after some haggling, then haggling with the GM... I'm picking the car up Friday... with rego...

No wonder used car salesmen have a bad name!

It's Official, The Wharfedales are no more

I did it. It was hard but I let the wharfedales move on to be loved by someone else. Someone through a friend of a friend found out I had an extra set of speakers that sounded like they would go well with his newly purchased plasma. After a brief audion he decided they were the ones for him. Having another listen to them all hooked up reminded me just how good these speakers where in the first place, especially the amount of bass they could produce when I demoed the Star Wars Episode III Disc. Even after he request a test with the sub on to see the difference I was evident that the Diamond 8.4s could lend a lot of authority to any sound track.

The lounge room feels kind of empty with only one set of speakers in it. It feels like I've gained 50% of the room back.

The MX5 has a name

Ben pointed out the other day when we shopping for his MX5 that we needed to name our new toy. We don't have it yet but at least it will have a name. As it's very much Ness's car I gave her naming rights, so from now on the MX5 will be known as MinX

Car Decision Done!

Well we made the decision to purchase one of the older NA series MX5s. We picked the Limited Edition in "Classic Red" with tan leather interior. It was in the best condition out of all of the ones that I saw by a long way!

We've put a deposit down on it and got to borrow it over night which was great fun! It's been for an inspection and I'm just awaiting the repairs that were required after that. It's due to go for another inspection on Wednesday afternoon to check it's all ok, then it will be ours!

They have agreed to get a new windscreen (had a small chip), full service (oil, plugs, etc), master cylinder service to fix the leak, 2 new rear tyres, rear alignment, head light alignment, rear suspension control arm fixed and power steering service all at their cost, before I take delivery. It had a full service 15,000ks ago which included the timing belt. All the services have been done by Centenary Mazda.

Managed to get it for an OK price considering it's condition and the price they had it maked at. I've put up some photos on Flickr from when I dropped it off for inspection!

Ben's also been doing heaps of research on them which's been very useful, hopefully we can track one down for him in just as good condition (but in Green)!

We have a BUZ!

Ness found out yesterday that there will be a new BCC BUZ service starting that goes from our stop! It's the only thing that i've missed since we moved from coorparoo!

Car Shopping

We've decided to get a first generation (popup headlight) MX-5. The one topping the list at the moment is a Limited Edition Classic Red one. (like the one in the pic)
The third Limited Edition, the "Classic Red", was released in May 1993.
100 vehicles were imported into Australia featuring BBS alloy rims, tan softtop and interior, leather gear knob, leather upholstery, CD player, headrest speakers, stainless steel scuff plates, power steering and colour keyed hardtop.

Took one for a test run yesterday... just a complete joy to drive... even for it's age

Welcome to another episode of the world goes mad!

I came across this in my daily gadget readings... but really... come on people!! Is the bathroom really that far away!?!

Coming to a bar district near you, the Pee Tree. This was designed by Joa Herrenknecht for use in public spaces. It is big, bright and ceramic, just pee on the tree itself and lets the urine run down, or pee directly into the receptacle around the base of the tree. The urine is then flushed down to the sewage canal in regular manner. The tree is in a contemporary design that could easily double as a fecal slingshot, sweet.

Taken from Gizmodo